Sega were really the first company to take gaming to the masses. They are responsible for some of the greatest games/characters of all times and should never be forgotten. Nintendo are more ' hardcore' in my opinion. Less popular but more ' hardcore' . That might not be a brilliant description but I' ll elaborate if anyone doesn' t get me.
This is incorrect. Nintendo brought gaming to the masses, and there is no other company that can claim otherwise. It was the NES that actually began the video game revolution as we know it. At that time, Sega operated strictly in the arcades, and was absolutely not part of said revolution. And Nintendo is approximately forty gazillion times more popular than Sega. The sales numbers of the NES, GameBoy, and SNES are enough to confirm that. For the past decade, uninformed people all over the world call every video game and every video game system a " Nintendo."
Essentially, you' ve got this backwards. Sega is the more " hardcore." In the end, mostly only video game enthusiasts have ever even HEARD of Sega, let alone acknowledge them for being some kind of " king" of video games. Take any 10 people off the street in any part of the country, and 9 of them, if not all 10, will not only have heard of Nintendo, they' ll know what they' re responsible for. Maybe 1 will even know who Sega is, the other 9 won' t have the slightest clue.
Nintendo began the " home gaming" revolution, and today, that' s what matters. Atari was responsible for the first home console, but it never saw a fraction of the success that the NES did. Super Mario Bros. remains the highest selling video game of all time by a gigantic amount, and you' ll count more than a half-dozen more titles before you see anything made by Sega.
Sega is the company that has permanently been entrenched in Nintendo' s shadow when it comes to " in-home" gaming. Sega most certainly was NOT the first company to " take gaming to the masses." In fact, they never did that. The arcades is where they shined; they' ve never been #1 in the home; not once. The Genesis was easily eclipsed by the SNES, the Sega CD was a downright awful system, the Saturn was torn apart by the PSOne, and the DC could never compete with the PS2 (and even the PSOne and N64 were selling better for much of the DC' s existence).
Sega certainly deserves it' s just due. But everybody on the planet knows the name of the company that took " gaming to the masses." And the name ain' t " Sega."